Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series
This memoir is of the author's wartime experiences leading up to and as a B-29 Superfortress Aircraft Commander. He was engaged in the Air Offensive-Japan from the Marianas Islands in the South Pacific. He looks back at those experiences from the professional view of a retired airline captain, having flown over 35 years of service with Trans World Airlines.After graduation as a pilot cadet, he became a bomb approach pilot at a bombardier training base for one year. Then, rated as a B-17 Flying Fortress 1st Pilot, he spent six months duty as a B-17 instructor pilot at an airbase training new B-17 crews as replacements for the 8th Air Force in England. Many months of training to be a B-29 Aircraft Commander followed.
He arrived at newly constructed Northwest Field, Guam, in early June 1945. 125 factory-new B-29B Superfortresses made up the new 315th Very Heavy Bomb Wing. He and his crew flew 13 missions before the end of the war, all against oil targets.
In addition to covering his wartime service, the author concludes the book with several chapters detailing various aspects of the air war against Japan and how he believes attacking Japan's oil refineries and supplies could have ended the war even without the use of the atomic bombs.
Contents
Why the B-29 Was Built
Deming, New Mexico
The China B-29s
Hobbs, New Mexico
Sioux City, Iowa
Formation Flying
Harvard, Nebraska
My First Look at a B-29
Meeting My Crew
The Solo Flight With My Crew
The 315th Bomb Wing Readies for Guam
The "Chicago Queen" Leaves for Guam
Northwest Field, Guam
Air Combat Begins
The Special Mission of the 315th Bomb Wing
Status of the Air War in June 1945
Mission Planning and Getting Ready
Maximum Gross Weight Take-offs
A Typical Bomb Run
My First Mission, Kudamatsu, A Near Disaster
The 509th Composite Group and the Atomic Bomb
The Blockade of Japan
The Fire Bombing of Japanese Cities
The 7th Fighter Command
Air and Sea Rescue in the Pacific Combat Theaters
More About Iwo Jima and Okinawa
The Planned Invasion of Japan
The Kamikaze
Japan's Preparation for an American Landing on Kyushu
More Combat Missions
The Last Mission of World War II
August 15, 1945
MacArthur is Appalled
Flight to the Philippines for Prisoner of War Supplies
My Prisoner of War Drop
A Legal Buzz Job of Japan
My Flight to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., and Discharge
Post War
Addendum
Testimony
B-29 Ditchings at Iwo Jima
27 photos
10 documents
1 map
Review by Mike Keenan, CDR, USN (Ret):
I recently purchased subject book (written by my uncle). I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I learned a lot more about my uncle's war experience, his flying career, and the war effort in the Pacific. Thank you so much for publishing my uncle's memoirs!
